Contact Information

Accepting new clients: YesUsual Office Hours:MondaythroughFriday 9:00am to 6:30pm My schedule varies from week to week with the schedules and needs of my clients If you need the same time each week please discuss that with me; and I will try to accommodate you

Education

Highest Degree Earned: Ph.D. Discipline: Psychology

B.A. University of California, Berkeley in 1967; M.A. University of Victoria, BC, in 1979; Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at University of Alberta, Edmonton, in 1990; Internship at W.W.Cross Cancer Institute 1985; Residency at Northwest Occupational Medicine Center 1992. Over 30 years experience in providing family therapy and adult psychotherapy; with over 20 years in health psychology; teaching and supervision for masters students in art therapy and counseling psychology, certification in art psychotherapy and clinical hypnosis.

Professional Focus

Areas of focus in my practice include:Empowering adults to overcome the stress and anxiety that come with a diagnosis of cancer or chronic medical illness.Developing skills in communication and decision-making, in order to regain a feeling of being in charge of your life.Working with family members to understand and cope with serious illness in a child or adult.Understanding and working through grief and loss in the family.Strengthening relationships in couples and families through improved communication and understanding.Using guided imagery to activate inner resources for health and creative development.Exploring adult midlife transitions: rediscovering old dreams and new goals and vitality.

This therapist offers a discount for payment at the time of service when there is no requirement for billing or other financial paperwork.

My fee is for an hour individual session. I charge $180 for a one hour couple/family session. The initial session is usually 90 minutes and prorated based on the hourly rate. I accept credit cards. I am willing to bill insurance companies for you, but I am not on some insurance panels (out of network).I do participate in Medicare. Please discuss any financial issues at our first session.

I offer counseling and coaching for adults and their families who are facing challenging life transitions, such as serious medical illness (e.g. cancer, multiple sclerosis), relationship change, career change and retirement, midlife revitalization, loss and bereavement. I facilitate finding clarity and perspective when someone is feeling lost, stuck, confused, or on the edge of a creative breakthrough. My focus is to appreciate and understand the beliefs people have about themselves and their world, to help them alter and expand beliefs about their own potential, and to take actions leading to rewarding change.

Getting Back to Basics: Learning to Relax

People tell us that we have to get rid of stress and somehow take life more easily. But what does that really mean? Our minds and our bodies are on overload. We are constantly in fight-flight mode in response to perceived, imagined or anticipated threats. While the nervous system has an excellent response system that moves us out of harms way quickly, it also provides us the means to reset the system back to normal. The key to shifting back to normal mode is in learning to relax consciously. There are several methods of learning relaxation. Ronna Jevne, Phd and I wrote a simple manual that you can use to get started. Follow the link:

Collaborative Couples Therapy

I offer couples opportunities to have better conversations about their relationship, to learn to work together for greater understanding and intimacy. For the last few years I have trained with Dan Wile and Nan Narboe to hone my skills in listening and supporting couples in reaching new levels of appreciation of each other. For further understanding of this approach, I recommend Dan Wile's book After the Honeymoon: How Conflict Can Improve Your Relationship. Here is a link to Amazon:

Changing for the Better

Are you contemplating some change in behavior? Do you have some habits that you would like to change? Maybe you would like to lose weight, stop cluttering, or pursue a dream of yours? Have you ever wondered what pushes someone beyond the New Year's resolution to actually following through on change?

Let's look at why people change for the better and what makes them stick with those changes. Change is not easy and yet people do change. Let us start with what motivates people to change.

Sometimes the need to change comes from outside. Many of my clients tell me they had no choice. They were diagnosed with cancer or diabetes. Their doctor told them to either stop smoking or die, to lose 30 pounds or start taking insulin. And they did stop smoking and they did lose weight. The shock value of a diagnosis can really get you moving.

On a global scale a natural disaster in Sumatra or New Orleans pushes people to discover what they value most. A flood may level the playing field between rich and poor. In response to a disaster, everyone has to begin again and rebuild their lives.

Those are not the only reasons people choose to change. Sometimes we gradually become aware that something is missing or not quite right in our lives. Sometimes we reach a crossroads and find that we cannot continue on the same path. Perhaps we realize that becoming a doctor or engineer was somebody else's dream. I have known people who, after years of stress in corporate careers have used a diagnosis of cancer as turning points toward more fulfilling vocations.

Midlife can be a great time to re-evaluate our lives. Loudon Wainwright III wrote a funny song about realizing that we have less time in the future than in the past, called "Doing the Math". He expressed his sense of urgency of time running out. In midlife many people explore their roots in order to become more authentically themselves. I began taking art classes a few years ago because I thought if not now when? I chose watercolors because I had always been attracted to the fluid and translucent colors. This pursuit has given me new eyes.

I have known several people who have changed their diet and taken off weight because their doctors told them to. I decided that I didn't want to wait until I was diagnosed with diabetes, arthritic knees or gout before taking off extra pounds. When I realized that I could reduce my risk of diabetes by reducing my weight, I did some research until I found a safe way to lose weight gradually and keep it off. Nine years later I find it's easier to keep off the weight than it was to lose it.

People make changes because they see opportunities to belong, to experience, to create, to make a difference in the world. Perhaps someone thought 'what if we could give poor people the materials and assistance to build their own homes?' I imagine that is how Habitat for Humanity came into being. I listened to a portrait of Rosa Parks on NPR. She didn't just decide one day to sit in a different seat on the bus. She had been thinking about the words of Martin Luther King Jr. She joined trainings and discussions of ideas about nonviolent social action and came to believe that she could make a small difference by just sitting down.

Sometimes people need to look for the opportunities in crises or holes in their lives. Changing our minds may be all we need to do. I gave a talk to a support group for people with brain tumors and one young lady who felt that she couldn't consider getting married or having family because she said she had a "time bomb" in her brain (the possibility of recurrent cancer). I talked to them about living with uncertainty and showed them strategies for understanding their risks and taking chances. At the end the young lady said that she had changed her mind and that she wanted to start living more fully.

Seeing our mother so changed after a stroke, my brother was disconcerted. She could not walk and could barely hear even with hearing aids. I showed him how to touch her with care and gentleness. He said it wasn't easy because we aren't a touchy feely family. I noticed that he learned to hold her hand and give her a kiss by the end of his visit. It may seem like a small change, but for him it was huge.

Now think about the reasons that you have for wanting to change. If there is something that you have been thinking about changing - however big or small - start with knowing that change is possible, that you have the power to make the changes that are important to you, and if not now when? The words of the philosopher Goethe ring true: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

Disclaimer:
The license of this professional / agency to provide services has been registered with this referral directory. All other information is self-reported and not verified. This listing does not warrant the practice of or treatment by any person or agency listed. Complaints about services should be taken to the provider of services, and, if necessary complaints should be taken to the state authority that licenses the professional or agency. If you choose to seek services, please discuss the specific services you require and the training the therapist / counselor / agency has to provide those services.